Change
by BurningxRedxCaskett
Summary: I know that I'm a scientist, science is easy; it's what I know. I never thought that I would be this girl, Booth. I've realized that you were right, that Angela was right." BB Post 5x16 ONESHOT


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bones, all rights to their owners. As much as I wish that I owned David Boreanaz, I do not-that reality makes me sad…lol

**Authors Note:** Okay, so as I've said in the cross over fic I'm writing-with help from Kristi-I'm just getting into _Bones_, I swear I have been living under a rock for the last five years…but that's besides the point. Anyways, I saw the ending of the 100th episode and O-M-G! I'm mad! How could you say no to Booth? I mean really, have you looked at him ;) but anyways, that scene gave me an idea, and here is what came of it. Please be kind and tell me what you think.

* * *

It had been a long week to say the least. Temperance sat at her desk in her office looking over the latest piece of information she had been given on some remains. She hadn't seen Booth in a week, apparently things had been slow on the streets of DC, or so she was lead to believe.

She rests her chin in the palm of her hand, that night replaying over and over in her head.

" _I want to give this a try."_

"_What? Us?" seeing him nod, she shakes her head no. "No. The FBI won't let us work together as a couple-"_

"_Don't. Don't use that it's not a reason." _

_And then he was kissing her. She'd kissed him before, under the mistletoe, but there was something else in this kiss. She felt his need and want for her by the simple touch of his lips. She responds only for a short moment, and then she pushed him away, not daring to meet his eyes just yet._

"_NO! No," looking up she shakes her head, "You thought you were protecting me but it's you that needs protection."_

"_From what?!"_

"_From me! I'm a scientist, I can't change. I don't know how." Looking into his eyes, she sees the strong man she's known for years start to shatter at her words. "Please don't look so sad."_

She doesn't realize that she's crying until she hears the soft voice of her best friend pull her from her thoughts. "Bren? You okay, sweetie?"

Looking up at Angela, she shakes her head, "I'll be fine, Ang. Did you get a face for the woman I'm working on?"

Sitting across from Temperance, Angela reaches for her hand, "Forget the woman, I'm worried about you. Talk to me, please?"

Squeezing her friend's hand she shakes her head, "Now is not the time to worry about my emotional problems, Angela. I want to work and keep my mind and thoughts elsewhere. Please?"

~*~

Sitting in Angela's apartment later that night, Brennan is staring at some far off point on the wall, and Angela has been hard at work with her sketch pad. Walking over to her couch she sits next to Temperance and the scientist looks over at her.

Angela gives her friend a small smile and shows her what she had been sketching out. Looking down at the paper on her lap, Brennan notices that it is a sketch of her. Looking up at Angela, she asks, "Why did you just spend the biggest part of your night sketching me?"

"I call this piece 'Confused and Lonely Girl'. Please, sweetie, tell me what's wrong," Angela pleads, and takes the paper away from her. "You've always been able to talk to me, why should this time be any different?"

Sighing, she tries to gather her words. Looking back over at Angela, she shakes her head, "Because I don't want you to say 'I told you so'." Getting a blank look from Angela, Temperance continues, "Last week Booth pretty much told me that he was in love with me; and that he wanted to give 'us' a try."

Angela smiles wide at her, "Honey, of course he is. I've known he was in love with you for a long time. Look in his eyes when he's around you and you can tell."

"But I couldn't, and if I did I ignored it. We're partners, Ang. If we start dating we can't work together, and I don't want that to happen. Other than you and the Jeffersonian, Booth has been the one constant in my life, and I can't go without seeing him every day."

"What did you say to him?"

She feels the tears form in her eyes as her mind flashes back to that night. "I told him 'no'. I said that I he needs to be protected from me. I said that I'm a scientist and that I can't change. He looked so broken, Ang, and I was the one who made him that way. I didn't ask for him to fall in love with me, and I don't even know why he did."

Angela grabs her friends' hand, "Look, I know that you don't want to ruin anything between you and Booth, but can you honestly tell me that you don't love him? Come on Bren. I see the way you look at him; you've never looked at anyone else the way you do him. I know that he can drive you crazy, but at the end of the day-"

"No, Ang, I _can't_ love him," Brennan protests, trying to convince herself that she isn't in love with him. She can't be. Can she?

"Sweetie, open your heart, open your eyes. He's always going to be there for you. But do you really want to risk having him being taken from you by someone else?"

"Booth has dated other girls before and I wasn't worried about losing him."

Angela shakes her head, "No, you were jealous. We all saw it."

"I was not jealous, I was just-giving them their space," Brennan tries to reason.

"Temperance," Angela begins, looking her friend in the eyes. "I don't want to see you mope around anymore. It's obvious to me that you miss him, and that-whether you admit it to yourself or not-you're in love with Seeley. I know you're partners, but a bond has formed between you two, and there is a connection between you two as well. I just want you to be happy, you're my best friend, and I don't like seeing you hurt."

Brennan nods, "Thank you, Angela."

She gives a small shrug and a slight smile, "That's what I'm here for."

~*~

Another day passes and Booth has yet to show up with a case. Brennan spends her day at the Jeffersonian, doing mostly busy work so as not to die of boredom. She would much rather be out in the field with Booth, but that hasn't happened since last week.

She misses him.

She misses arguing with him over jumping to conclusions; she's yet to break him of that habit.

She misses their light conversations on the way to a scene.

She misses how his eyes light up over her excitement of their recent findings.

She misses the way he cringes at the site of a decomposing corpse.

She misses his stories about Parker.

She stands from her place on her couch and blindly grabs her coat and purse. It's after eight in the evening and she is leaving her work behind. She drives to the apartment complex on auto-pilot, and debates about going up. She's made it this far, but is she brave enough to make it the rest of the way? Is he even home? Will he hear her out? Does he still want her? Does he still want them?

_You can do this, Temperance. Just go up there and start talking._ Finally working up enough courage, she grabs her things and heads up to his apartment. Standing outside his apartment door, she hesitates before bringing her fist up and knocking.

She moves her eyes to the floor while she waits for him to answer and is about to turn around and leave when the door opens.

"Bones?"

Snapping her head up she smiles weakly at him, "I haven't seen you in a week, Booth."

He nods and averts his eyes, "Yeah, I've been busy working on some cold cases."

"I haven't seen you in a week, and I have never felt this alone," she explains, and as he moves aside to let her walk into his home, she smiles. He's welcomed her into his home, that's a good sign. Placing her purse on the table, she turns around to face him.

Booth shakes his head, "You're not alone, Bones. You have Angela, and Hodgins."

She nods, "I know. But I was alone and lost without you this week. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't eat or sleep." She watches his face, reads his reaction to her words, and continues. "I know that I'm a scientist, science is easy; it's what I know. I never thought that I would be this girl, Booth. I've realized that you were right, that Angela was right."

"Bones, what are you talking about? You're, not making any sense," Seeley says, running and hand through his short hair.

She shrugs lightly at him, "I've changed, Booth."

_I can't change, I don't know how._

"Bones, what-?"

Before he can finish his question, Brennan's lips are on his. She slowly wraps her arms around his neck, and she can't help the tingle she feels as his arms snake around her waist. She savors this feeling; she's never felt this complete before.

When their kiss breaks, she rests her forehead on his. She opens her eyes and is met with his chocolate colored eyes in return. She smiles at him, her first real smile in a week and whispers, "I'm in love with you, Seeley Booth. I don't know when it happened, or why it happened, but it did. I want to be the one who will love you in 30 or 40 or 50 years from now."

"You don't believe in love, Bones," he says, giving her a smile. He doesn't know what changed her mind, but at this moment he doesn't care, he's just happy that she did.

Shaking her head at him, she smiles, "But I believe in you, and I believe in myself. I don't know how this is going to work. But I do know that I can't go another day without seeing you, Booth."

"Good, cause I plan on being by your side for the rest of our lives," he tells her, leaning in to kiss her once again, and she has no objection.

_Fin_


End file.
